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It was over.
Light Yagami, Kira, was dead. The notebooks were in the SPK’s possession and they would soon be burned.
But it wasn't enough. There had been too many losses on the way to this victory. One in particular too great a loss, a price Near had never been willing to pay.
“Mr. Ryuk.”
The shinigami put his notebook and pen into his otherworldly pockets and faced the young man clad in all white.
“Hm?”
Near twirled a strand of his hair. “If you can come down to the human realm by dropping your Death Note, is there any way a human can go up to your realm?”
If Ryuk had eyebrows, they would’ve been raised. “A human in the shinigami realm? I've never heard of such a thing happening.”
That wasn't the answer he was looking for. “If I were to give you a possession of mine from the human world, and you threw it up to the shinigami world, would you be able to take me with you to fetch it?”
Members of the taskforce and the SPK gave out sounds of confusion, but Near ignored them. None of them seemed to have any imagination.
Ryuk seemed befuddled, so he continued. “And if a shinigami picked it up, would I be able to stay there until they relinquish ownership?”
“Uh, sorry kid. The King makes the rules for all this. I don't think items from the human realm would have the same binding as a Death Note. I don't think if I dropped my pen I would be allowed to come down here to retrieve it. And I highly doubt a human could claim ownership over it in any obligatory way.”
Near latched onto the opening. “You think you wouldn't be allowed, but you could still come here, right? It would be enough of an excuse?”
“Excuse me, Near, I really don't think you're this through,” Aizawa from the task force spoke up. “You're planning on going to the shinigami realm? That shouldn't be possible at all.”
It took Near all his restraint to not glower at the other man. “Funny, one would think the task force would've caught Kira a lot earlier if they were so proficient in thinking things through.”
The mentioned had no similar courtesy when it came to controlling their expressions.
“Forgive me, Near, but Mr. Aizawa is right.” Lidner chimed in, the last thing he needed. “Even if possible, it's safe to assume this shinigami king would not permit such a thing, and who knows what consequences you'll face for attempting it?”
Near did not hold back his glare this time. “The task force is one thing, but I had no idea my own team thinks I'm an idiot as well.”
Ryuk cleared his throat, which was probably a meaningless action for a shinigami. He had probably been in the human world too long at this point. “She's right, kid. You could very well be subjected to twenty years of exile in the wastelands or something. And maybe I would be too, as an accomplice! Sorry, but there's no way I'm helping you.”
So everyone thought until the payoff seemed worth it. Luckily, there was plenty left to L's inheritance.
“Your Death Note will stay intact in Rester’s possession. You will be bound to him for the entire time I'm in the shinigami realm, and in case of his death the notebook shall be passed on to a new owner via his will. I guarantee you 50 apples a day while I'm gone, with a 1000 apple down payment as appreciation for your cooperative gesture. The notebook will stay with us and you won't have to go back to the shinigami realm any time soon after I come back. Rester will give up ownership in case I don't return after a year’s worth of time, so you’d find it within your best interests to help me out as much as you can.”
Near stopped twirling his hair.
“On the other hand, we can just burn your notebook right now and who knows when you'll next taste an apple? Even if you try giving a new notebook to another human, I promise you we'll find them a lot quicker than we found Light, now that there's no remaining mystery left to the rules.”
Ryuk’s eyes bugged out more than they already did. If Near was grateful to Kira for one thing, it was making the discovery that shinigami were bribable and prone to addiction.
“I will never understand you humans… To have the gall to behave this way with a shinigami… You aren't doing this out of boredom or curiosity, are you?” He finally spoke, voice having taken on an amused tone, despite the offended nature of his words.
“Of course not. I have no desire to put my life in danger for such feeble reasons.”
For some reason, the shinigami seemed to find Near’s statement hilarious, as demonstrated by his booming laughter.
“I was beginning to wonder, but now I'm convinced you're an entirely different breed from the likes of Light and L, aren't you?”
Near huffed. “I think they too would've do anything to get what they wanted. I'm not any different.”
“And what is it that you want?” Ryuk asked, glint in his eyes.
Near's eyes wandered to his human companions, who were no doubt wondering the same thing. He smiled. “Nothing too impossible. At least not in the world of magical books of death.”
“Hyuk, hyuk. Aren't you a riot. Fine, give me whatever you wanna throw up there. I would recommend using something meaningful,” the shinigami’s voice turned sinister, “It has to be believable that you had to go up there for it, after all. Maybe it'll lessen your sentence when you get caught.”
Near’s smile turned into a smirk. “I thought so. I have just the thing,” he pulled out the object from his pyjama pocket, “This should be pretty convincing, shouldn't it?”
Lidner gasped, being the quickest one to have recognized the significance. “You're going up there for–”
“Ms. Lidner, if it's alright with you, I'm leaving you in charge of all the remaining legal work while I'm gone. Rester, please take care of the business with your will and the notebook. Gevanni, I request you to assist the members of the task force with handling Light Yagami’s body.”
Rester interjected, “Near, wait– we don't think you're an idiot. We just don't want anything to happen to you.” He put a hand on Near's shoulder and was shaken off immediately.
“In the case anything does, I'm sure Wammy’s has my replacement ready by now. Please tell me you all are willing to do your jobs, I have not yet made similar arrangements to replace you.” Near hadn't meant to sound so cold, but he hoped his team understood by now what all this meant to him.
They all hesitated, obviously wanting to hold him back.
Finally, Rester exhaled. “Yes sir, we'll carry out our duties accordingly.”
The task force, as if just being reminded of the events that had transpired right before Near’s strange request, all turned to stare at the body of the man who had lied to and manipulated them for the past six years.
Near didn't intend on sticking around to see the devastated and betrayed looks on their faces. They would probably resemble his own from a few days ago.
“Mr. Ryuk, if you could please.” He handed his soon-to-be lost item over to the shinigami.
“Intriguing choice… Ah, we'll have to be under an open sky for this.” Near followed the shinigami outside the warehouse. Although he'd never been one to take note of such things, he was still slightly captured by the colors of the dusk.
It felt like the sky was beckoning him, as if he weren't already entirely driven to carry out his plan.
“Eh, before I give you any more advice, I'll take you up there first so you can see the state of things firsthand and truly consider your chances.”
Ryuk threw the rosary and the sky swallowed it whole.
The two looked up at where it had been for a few seconds. Near wondered if Ryuk was seeing something he couldn't, like a portal.
“Welp… It's landed there for sure. You ready?” The shinigami looked down at him again.
Near looked back towards the cars the SPK and him had taken here.
“Please wait, I have to fetch some essential items before I go.”
“Eh?” Ryuk questioned as Near started walking to the car he'd been in.
“Unlike shinigami, I assume I will still require nutrition while I'm there.” He explained.
“Oh right, of course. Man, you should definitely take some apples. Shinigami realm apples have terrible texture.”
“Thank you for the forewarning.”
Once Near had gotten his backpack full of freeze-dried rations and water, he looked expectantly up at Ryuk. The shinigami tilted his head like a puppy.
Near sighed. “Bend down so I can get on your back.”
“Oh, right…”
Near carefully climbed onto the much taller creature (who lacked any and all body heat, but that was to be expected), who piped up: “Say, just to confirm, you're doing all this for that crazy guy, right? Mihael Keehl?”
Near stilled. “I’d never known his name.”
Ryuk made an alarmed noise. “Damn, I didn't know you didn't know! I'm so glad breaking this law only has a level eight punishment. You seem so all-knowing it's surprising you didn't know the name of the guy you like…”
A flush threatened to overtake the human’s face. “If you could please get on with transporting me to the shinigami realm…”
“Oh, yeah!” Near took a sharp intake of breath as the shinigami launched himself off the ground. He tightened his hold around the shinigami’s neck as they ascended at intense speed towards the sky. “This is about to be real interesting! I only wish I could watch that realm from down here!”
“I-if you could please slow down a little–” Near struggled to force the words out of his mouth, against the pressure of the wind.
“Oh, right, forgot you all aren't used to this type of flying.” Ryuk slowed down a lot, enough that Near could finally look up at where they were going. If the air pressure got too thin before they reached, he was risking an asthma attack. Thankfully, he’d packed an inhaler.
Almost suddenly, the Earth he'd known all his life seemed to collapse around him. His eyes widened as he glanced down. They already seemed to be in the Earth’s orbit, but he was having absolutely no trouble breathing.
He looked back up, and there was indeed a portal finally visible to him.
Right before they went through, Near closed his eyes in fear and anticipation.
The conviction he'd lacked all his life gripped him with a vengeance and he opened them again to be greeted with the sight of a dead world.